One piece of jewelry per week,... for a year.

May 18, 2008

A simple wirework pendant this week, worked in copper with a lovely swarovski bead in a great colour.I wanted to make something simple that could be explained in just words- a lot of my pieces in the coming weeks will also feature pieces that fit that category.

Oh no- so far behind!I have been making pieces, just not photographing and uploading them.I promise to remedy this and spend the next week catching up- but not all at once so I don't completely swamp everyone else.This necklace took me months and months and was eventually finished within hours of the deadline I was making it for- I just about managed to get it photographed and in the post in time- phew.It's one of my favourite pieces ever- even though I'm not completely happy with the colours and how they progress. Even thought the pattern of changing stays the same all the way along, I feel at one point the colours look like they jump and I wasn't happy with this- but no time to change it- I'd just have to bead another one and see if that worked better!

it's in the finals of Bead & Buttons Bead Dreams so anyone going to the show this year will get to see it- lucky you!

I subtitled it 'Collar for a Rangoli Girl' after being inspired by the colours and shapes used in rangoli.

March 23, 2008

My son's teacher had left me (last fall, duh!) an old necklace that she didn't like anymore and never wore, asking me to create something else out of the green tubular beads. I went through my stash and found fused glass, cat's eye and black onyx beads that matched beautifully, and decided to crochet a pendant using a matching green glass glob and black artistic wire.

She hasn't seen it yet because her arthritis and other problems prevented her from getting out
of her house very much with the harsh winter we had here in Quebec, and she stayed home as much as possible, going out only when she really had to. However, I had shown her the partial sketch I made, and she had loved it, so I figure that the finished piece will please her as much as it pleases me!

Now, I'm going back to work on week 28, and when finished, I will be proud of myself for having made all 52 pieces, not on time or always on theme, but all of them will be there!

I have to tell you first that our family has acquired a new member recently, with the adoption of Lucky, a young and beautiful female black Labrador mixed with German Shepherd (or so we think...). She is bright and sweet, and well behaved, and... oh well, I am very fond of her as you can see! ;-)Surprisingly, my 16 year-old son wanted me to buy Lucky a baby pink or powder blue collar, adorned with
crystals and rhinestones. Very bling-bling, and so unlike him! LOL! Unwilling to spend
astronomical amounts of money in fashion accessories for trendy doggies, I decided to buy a plain unexpensive collar, and to decorate it myself (Decorations theme, yeah!). I crocheted a band with stainless steel wire, little opalite hearts and various glass beads, and stitched it solidly to the collar with 34ga stainless steel wire. She is soooo cute! A real princess!

March 22, 2008

As I have already stated, I am taking a sabbatical, but it doesn't mean that I won't be making any jewellery at all! No, it simply means that I will be making only what I feel like doing without any pressure (this implies no commissions or special orders, and no classes or workshops).

I really like the Carrousel rings that I made for week 49. I like wearing them and they are fun to make too, so I decided to make a small collection in different sizes and colours for my Etsy shop.

February 20, 2008

I'm getting there! This is my piece for week 49, so there will be more 3 weeks to go in order to finish the year, and week 52 is already made, leaving weeks 50 and 51 to create, not counting week 28 that I had put aside and needs to get finished as well. I WILL DO IT! I wanna to it! I owe it to myself...

This is a ring I created further to making something similar for a customer. She saw the first one I had made with only one colour (first one on the left in the picture to the right) and asked if I could make another in two shades of green. A few tries later, I was able to produce the second ring from the left, in a pleasing pattern and in the right size! That's when I realized that the swirly pattern obtained would be interesting in a hot-chocolate-topped-with-melting-marshmallow-after-a-gentle-stir colour theme. ;-)

February 06, 2008

Not much time and inspiration for this piece, but a strong desire to go ahead and finish that YOJ even though it takes me another few weeks. For this one, I decided
to go digging into my box of unfinished bits and pieces in search of anything that would make me think of a canyon... or a song. I found a series of
little copper hearts in different sizes, and decided to hang them to a crazy wrapped bead (also from my box). Some colour was needed and what
better colour than turquoise to complement a canyon. I added a few glass beads in that shade and hung everything from a black rubber cord. When you look at the colours, a canyon definitely comes to mind, but if you also consider the shapes, then a Canyon Love Song pops up into your head!

My oldest son is 16, and he invited his sweetheart to sleep over for Christmas. I love when he does that because it's the only way that his room gets such a thourough cleanup! Jessica sleeps in his room, right across the hall from ours (and I'm a light sleeper, ha!), and he gets the futon in the basement. They've been dating for five months already, and I'm very fond of her. She is a sweet, beautiful, bubbly girl with a dazzling smile. So this is what I made her for Christmas, after I learned that turquoise was her favourite colour.

The necklace is made in argentium, with black onyx beads, and Tibetan turquoise. Some of the black onyx were encased in a knitted pouch made of fine argentium wire.

January 24, 2008

I'm very behind and late posting this, but I wanted to add it in on the blog and try to complete my weeks for the last quarter. I made this one last night - Misty Forest. Made with all pure copper wire and beads, I hammered the clasp myself and added in some pretty etched boro lampwork beads. I oxidized the whole thing to give it a more rustic and ethnic look.

January 15, 2008

A customer brought me a beautiful stone with a diamond cut last year (forgot to ask her what it is, might be Swarovski, CZ or a gem). She wanted me to make a ring with it, which I did. I used Pat Johnson's Gypsy Ring tutorial in the Nov. 04 issue of the WAJ, and modified it to add a small crocheted pillow inside the setting to stabilize the pointed base of the stone. I was also afraid that the "prongs" might open and release the stone if they got caught in something, so I wove thin wire around the stem of each prong to bind them together.
The customer had tried one of my own rings for sizing, and ordered the same size. I tried the ring on when finished, the size was perfect, so I delivered it, and the customer was really happy with it.

She came back at the beginning of November, asking me to make her another ring (she would pay), because her arthritis got worse, and she can't slip it on anymore. I decided to keep the ring for myself and to set another stone on it. The Montreal Gem Show was scheduled for a few weeks later, and it was a good time to find something special for myself. However, I was so sick in November, that I really didn't feel like going, but I went anyway, and bought the first thing that was correct in size, shape and price. I only wanted to go back home and get into my pajamas! I think that I bought a Mexican fire opal (at least that's what was written on the tray), but the guy wrote "moonstone" on my little baggie, which I doubt very much.

Anyway, this is what it looks like now with the new stone on. It's a shame that I couldn't manage to catch
the red sparkles from within the stone, they're so pretty, especially when it's backlit.